Love and Longing - the title alone felt like an invitation to step into a world of tenderness, memory, and quiet ache. From the first notes of Mendelssohn, I felt myself opening, as though the music had found a door I didn't know was ajar.

The ladies on stage wore red dresses and the gentlemen red ties on white shirts, symbolising Malta and Poland - both flags are red and white.

This concert inaugurated the De Valette Chamber Orchestra's new international festival, DV Classical, which will present music and artists from different countries each year. This year was the turn of Poland.

Mendelssohn's Concerto No. 1 in D minor, written when he was barely a teenager, carries that strange mixture of innocence and depth - longing expressed not through heaviness, but through trembling light. The chamber orchestra gave it a transparency that felt intimate, as if each phrase were being offered directly to the listener.

And then there was the violinist Bartłomiej Nizioł.

From his first note, the theatre leaned in. We knew instantly this was no ordinary violinist. Later I learned he performs on a historic violin of extraordinary pedigree, and suddenly everything made sense: the effortless brilliance, the way the instrument seemed to answer him like an old friend. A great violin helps, yes - but it does not create greatness. It only reveals it. And that evening, Nizioł's artistry was revealed in full. How lucky we are to have the chance to hear him play in our national theatre.

After Mendelssohn's youthful sincerity, Wieniawski's Fantasia on Themes from Gounod's Faust felt like stepping into another world - operatic, dramatic, full of colour and fire. The audience shifted from inward tenderness to swirling theatrical energy. Those Faust themes carry their own perfume of desire and danger, and Nizioł played them with a mastery that made the music shimmer. It was a violinist's playground, and he danced through it with elegance and daring. He made it all look so easy.

Karłowicz's Serenade for Strings in C major was a perfect closing - lush, noble, and tinged with the melancholy of a composer whose life was far too short - 1876-1909. The De Valette Chamber Orchestra gave it a velvety, singing quality that filled the theatre  without ever overwhelming it. And there was Carmine Lauri - Malta's own - whose presence always brings a quiet pride. Musicians of his calibre almost always play on rare, historic instruments, and his sound carries that unmistakable nobility. Excellence attracts excellence, and this ensemble is already carving out a reputation for refinement and emotional intelligence.

The audience refused to let the orchestra go inspite of such a demanding programme, and the ensemble offered Grieg's Holberg Suite, Praeludium, as  encore.

When it was over, I stepped out into the February night feeling light - as though something inside me had been gently rearranged. Love and Longing was not just a title; it was the thread running through the entire evening. Mendelssohn's trembling light, Wieniawski's fire, Karłowicz's embrace - each left its mark. But the revelation of the night was Bartłomiej Nizioł: a master, a poet, a musician whose sound lingers long after the final note fades.

A final note. We had three excellent violinists on stage that I know of - perhaps more. Carmine Lauri with his London pedigree and presence, which is part of performance. Anna Kosińska with her beauty - yes, beauty always helps, of course it does - and with elegance, presence, and real musicianship; she is also a strong artistic director. No doubt she plays a pedigree violin as well. And Bartłomiej Nizioł with that quiet, unassuming exterior.

I don't go to concerts to be entertained. I go to be moved. When your heart is carrying sadness, you cannot force it to laugh on command. I am not looking for distraction. I am looking for resonance. When the heart is tender, comedy can feel like someone knocking too loudly on a closed door.

There is nothing wrong with avoiding laughter when your heart is not ready for it. There is nothing wrong with choosing beauty that consoles rather than beauty that entertains. I choose what nourishes. This was the right kind of music for me - of love and longing. It couldn't have been more perfect.

I listen with a kind of inner tuning fork. When a musician plays from the soul, your whole being vibrates in response. When the music is superficial, comic, or emotionally mismatched, you feel it immediately - not as judgment, but as dissonance. Some people go to concerts to escape themselves. I go to concerts to find myself.

Upon returning home I went straight to my laptop and played the programme all over again on You tube. That was my kind of music. Thank you De Valette Chamber Orchestra. I feel very spoilt.

Photos - Gordon Formosa

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